Ex-Bear: Suspect in killings 'had a crush' on me

March 04, 2009

A woman accused of killing the girlfriend and unborn child of ex-Bears star Shaun Gayle was arrested after a friend of hers agreed to wear a wire and recorded the woman admitting to committing the murders, authorities said today.

The recordings finally led to a break in the October 2007 murders: Marni Kay Yang, 41, of the 5100 block of North St. Louis Avenue in Chicago, is charged with fatally shooting Gayle's girlfriend Rhoni Reuter and their unborn child, authorities said this afternoon.

Lake County State's Atty. Michael Waller said Yang's friend "was instrumental in solving the case" by becoming more cooperative during the last week and agreeing to wear a wire. While talking to the friend, Yang "admitted to her involvement" in the murders, he said.

Waller said Yang went to great lengths to conceal the murders -- renting a car and placing stolen plates on them the day of the murder;paying for it with someone else's credit card; using a disposable cell phone that could not track her movements; wearing a wig and a hooded sweatshirt; using a silencer she apparently made from items bought at a Home Depot.

He noted that Yang was part of the Chicago Police Department's community policing program and said she might have learned things through it that helped her plan the killings.

Yang was ordered held without bail this morning during a hearing that drew crowds of police officers as well as Gayle, dressed in a gray suit.

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Leaving the Lake County courthouse, Gayle said he believes Yang killed Reuter and their unborn child because Yang "had a crush" on him.

Prosecutors say Yang had been dating Gayle and killed Reuter in a jealous rage.

But Gayle told reporters, "We never had a dating relationship of any kind. Now it is my belief Ms. Yang's desire for a relationship and not my responding favorably to her hopes for something more was the motivation behind her horrific acts.

"This all happened because someone had a crush," he said.

Yang is charged with two counts of first-degree murder in Reuter's death at her Deerfield condominium on Oct. 4, 2007. Prosecutors said Yang shot the pregnant Reuter seven times, including twice in the abdomen. She continued firing after Reuter had fallen to the ground, prosecutors allege.